Baby Head Flat On Side From Sleeping

What causes flat head syndrome.

Baby head flat on side from sleeping.

Flat head syndrome is also called positional plagiocephaly pu zi shu nul play jee oh sef uh lee. It s linked to a baby sleeping exclusively on his back as well as spending a lot of time lying in a rocker car seat or swing. Flat head syndrome or plagiocephaly as the condition is medically known occurs when a flat spot develops on the back or side of a baby s head. Don t put your baby to sleep on his stomach to avoid plagiocephaly because tummy sleeping puts him at risk for sids.

This can help if your baby tends to tilt his head to one side or the other while sleeping to look toward a window for instance. As distressing as this can be to a new parent a flat head is treatable and doesn t mean your baby is in pain or will have any developmental delays. Wrapping your baby like a burrito may help them sleep more. Monitors may help give you the heads up that your baby is on the move to side sleeping.

Babies also have weak neck muscles and usually turn their heads to one side when placed on their back. Swaddle your baby until they can roll over. Torticollis occurs when a tight or shortened muscle on one side of the neck causes the chin to tilt to the other side. Babies with torticollis can also develop a flat spot on their skull because they often sleep with their head turned to one side.

A baby s skull is very soft and the bones can be affected by pressure. Plagiocephaly or flat head syndrome is when a baby s head is flat on one side. This causes a flat spot either on one side or the back of the head. The condition can cause the baby s head to look.

In fact the increasing number of flat head babies is a sign that parents are keeping their little ones safe. Positional plagiocephaly happens most often to infants who are good sleepers who sleep through the night babies with an unusually large head and babies who are born prematurely and have weak muscle tone. Some babies develop flat spots on one side or the other because they stare out in the same direction all the time. Changing the view by repositioning within the crib also increases visual stimulation.